Graduate Certificate in Social Justice Studies

The graduate certificate in Social Justice Studies (SJS) targets full or part-time graduate students who seek professional preparation commensurate with the relevant Transformative Standards for Social Justice, Peace, and Environmental Education codified by Andrzejewski, Baltodano, & Symcox in 2009. Master's and doctoral students enrolled in various disciplines, as well as current administrative professionals who already possess an undergraduate degree and have 2-3 years full-time work experience, will particularly benefit from this certificate.

Students in the certificate will develop interdisciplinary theoretical, methodological, and practical knowledge on all aspects of social justice, grounded in deep understanding of the root causes of injustices, and skills to advance social justice related to civil and human rights, social action/activism, community organizing, radical love, processes of conscientization, and societal democratization.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of the graduate certificate in SJS, students will be able to meet the following relevant Transformative Standards for Social Justice, Peace, and Environmental Education codified by Andrzejewski, Baltodano, & Symcox in 2009:

Standard 1: Has the knowledge, skills, abilities, and dispositions to advance social justice, particularly as the advancement of social justice is related to:

Self-determination and relative autonomy;

A focus on the collective, not individuals;

Sociopolitical context, historicity, and political economy;

Civil and human rights;

Critique and self critique;

Radical love;

Dialogic, consensus process;

Ethics, including eco-sustainability relative to environmental racism and justice;

The coercive power of the state, imperialism, and the military industrial complex;

Schools as socially-reproductionistic, not democratic, institutions;

Affirmation of community funds of knowledge and cultural wealth in direct opposition to socially constructed deficit;

The legitimization of cultural aspirations and identity;

The principle of En Lak Ech;

The use of culturally relevant pedagogy;

Conscientization and democratization;

Equity;

The complex relationship between the local and the global as living and constantly adapting systems in which poverty and wealth can be mitigated (by social justice action) and/or augmented (by inaction in the context of neoliberalism); and,

A focus on what can be done.

Standard 2: Understands that all people, including PK-12 students, can exercise social justice, and has the knowledge, skills, abilities, and dispositions to facilitate this.

Standard 3: Understands that all institutions, especially educational institutions (PK-12 schools, colleges and universities, accrediting bodies, etc.) can foster social justice and has the knowledge, skills, abilities, and dispositions to facilitate this.

Standard 4: Understands how all people, including teacher educators, can support social justice and has the knowledge, skills, abilities, and dispositions to facilitate this.

Standard 5: Understands how all communities can realize the practice of social justice and has the knowledge, skills, abilities, and dispositions to facilitate this.

Graduate Catalog

The graduate catalog is the official repository of graduate program requirements, and Graduate College policies.